


Sam's Beach Trip

by verger_de_pommiers



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 19:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19026355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verger_de_pommiers/pseuds/verger_de_pommiers
Summary: Sam just wants to give them all a nice day to remember.





	Sam's Beach Trip

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for inaccurate portrayals of the American coast, I based the place off of a seaside village in Britain...

Sam makes the sandwiches; butter and jam for Steve, tomatoes, cheese, and lettuce for Natasha, ham and egg for himself, and marmalade for Bucky. From the sofa, Bucky watches him like a hawk, Sam pretending not to notice. He stacks the sandwiches and wraps them in tin foil. Steve walks in carrying a bag of oranges.

'Where's Natasha?' he asks.

'She got impatient; she's waiting in the car. I think she just wanted to secure shot-gun for herself.'

Steve nods then turns to Bucky and from the corner of his eye Sam watches them have a silent conversation.

'Okay but he didn't wash the knife after the butter so your jam's all weird,' he hears Bucky whisper. Sam rolls his eyes. He puts the sandwiches in his rucksack along with bottles of water and a tub of leftover cake from Steve's birthday.

'We ready?' he says.

 

Natasha's got her feet up on the dash and is fiddling with the radio.

'Feet down and I'm driving so I pick the music,' Sam says as he puts his rucksack in the boot. Steve and Bucky get in the back, Steve climbing over the seats because Bucky won't go around.

'Alright,' Sam says as he gets in and starts the engine, 'Everyone wind down your windows.'

Stevie Nicks blares out of the speakers and Sam checks his mirrors.

'Don't even try pulling faces at my musical preferences, I see you Romanova.' He pulls into the street and hands Natasha the map.

 

They're forty miles in when Natasha is suddenly out of her chair and in Steve's lap.

'What the hell just happened,' Sam says, clutching the side of his face where Natasha's behind had hit him. He looks into his mirror and sees Natasha clutching Steve, Steve looking bewildered, and Bucky kicking at Natasha's legs.

'Uh…Natasha are you alright?' Steve says, his arm resting gently on Natasha's shoulder.

'I'm fine,' she says angrily, blowing her hair away from her face, 'It's a spider, there on the dashboard,'

'Oh that's ironic,' Sam says. Bucky leans over and lightening fast smacks his hand down on the spider. Sam jumps and swerves.

'Okay new rule, everyone stays in their seats!' 

Natasha extricates herself from Steve and climbs back into the front.

 

Bucky has his head out the window like a dog.

'Can I have my sandwich now.' Steve says.

'No,' says Sam.

'Can I have an orange now?'

'No.'

'Did you pack anything else?'

'Nothing that you can have.'

'You're a controlling driver, did you know that?' Natasha says beside him.

 

Meat Loaf is playing and Natasha is glaring daggers at him.

'Okay, you can have a turn now, but only if you drive; my back is killing me.' He pulls over and gets out of the car, stretching his arms over his head. Natasha gets in and starts fiddling with the iPod. Beyonce blares out and Sam gets in, plugging in his seatbelt. Steve starts singing _I'm out that H-town coming coming down…_

Sam's life flashes before his eyes as Natasha takes her hands off the wheel to wave her hands in front of her face when Steve and Beyonce sing _I woke up like this!_

 

Sam is inspecting a splinter on the inside of his index finger when he hears a crunch. He turns in his seat and is momentarily happy to see Steve's hand in Bucky's until he notices the piece of foil in Bucky's lap and the sandwich hanging out of his mouth.

'What the hell!' 

Bucky glances at him and keeps chewing. Sam groans and turns away.

'Okay but when we're there and everyone is eating their sandwiches and you're hungry you'll be sorry.'

'Steve ate his too.'

'I was hungry! I'm sorry but I was hungry!' Steve says. He at least has the decency to look guilty.

 

Their waiting for a parking space while Natasha leans out of her window, reassuring the wife of the man who is angrily trying to reverse. 

'Don't worry about it,' she smiles. The wife looks embarrassed, apologising once more before the car finally reverses and they drive away. Natasha parks and switches off the music. Sam unbuckles his seatbelt and slowly opens the door so that it doesn't hit the car next to him, then sucks his belly in and maneuvers out. He heads for the boot, taking his rucksack out and hefting it onto his back. Bucky passes him and Sam watches him amble over to an ice-cream truck. His hair is silky clean; they had to repaint Sam's bath, _it's too green_ Bucky had said. Sam watches him turn and walk back carrying two cones, one chocolate and one strawberry. He hands the strawberry one to Steve, who grins pink-cheeked. 

'Wait…don't we get one?' Sam says. Bucky licks his ice-cream.

 

They head down a cobblestoned hill, passing sweetshops and bookshops and a few jewellery stalls. The air smells salty, the wind heavy with the sea. They get to the sand and start looking for a place to sit. Natasha had packed the beach mat and sets about hammering in the wind-breaker. The wind-chimes from the shop fronts behind them clink together in the breeze. Bucky takes off his shoes and digs his toes into the sand. Sam gets out the lunch and hands Natasha her sandwich.

'All you two have is cake…which is probably a bad idea after that ice-cream.'

'We can handle it,' Bucky says, and gestures for Sam to pass him a slice. Natasha puts her sunglasses on and takes a bite out of her sandwich, humming. A kid rolls a beach ball over to her and she rolls it back, grinning.

 

Steve is telling Natasha about the time he walked in on Rebecca Barnes in the bath, dying her legs in tea, whilst Sam keeps an eye on Bucky who is tiptoeing around rock pools, waiting for crabs.

'She was wearing her undergarments! She got right outta the tub and socked me in the face,' Steve says, laughing, then turns and points to Bucky, saying 'Oh.'

Bucky is holding a green crab.

'Carcinus maenas!' Sam yelps, 'Don't you dare bring that over here Barnes.'

Bucky waves it above his head.

'That's great Buck!' Steve calls out.

'Crab tastes good. We should cook it,' Natasha says. Sam stares wide eyed at her. She raises her eyebrow at him.

'Do you want a massage? You're acting kind of uptight today.'

He looks out at the beach, mouth open. Steve's gone over to Bucky to inspect the crab. Bucky turns it over and Steve touches the grooves on its belly.

'I just…I dunno why I'm feeling so stressed,' says Sam. Natasha reaches down, picking up an orange and smelling the skin.

'Maybe you want this day to be good?' she says. He laughs and leans his cheek against his hand. It's warm from the sun.

'Yeah,' he says, 'probably.'

 

Natasha and Steve are far out into the sea. They’re floating on their backs, splashing each other every now and then. Bucky is sorting through the shells he'd collected in Steve's baseball cap.

'Forget it,' he says.

'What's up?' Sam opens his eyes, squinting at him in the sun.

'I'll just have to bring them all back. I'll feel bad for the ones I leave behind.'

'The shells?'

Bucky glances at him. Half of his face is in shadow, freckles under his eyes turning orange against his sun-soaked hair.

'Hell, I know exactly what you mean buddy. I still have all my stuffed animals from when I was a kid. My Grandma keeps them in a box under the stairs. She still asks if I wanna play with 'em.'

Bucky blinks at him. 'That's weird,' he says. Sam chuckles and closes his eyes.

It's quiet for a moment until Bucky says: 'when I was a kid Steve made me a little wooden dog that nodded its head when you pulled it along the floor by a string.'

Sam opens his eyes and glances over. Bucky is looking down at his shells.

'That sounds great,' Sam says. Bucky darts a smile at him. 

 

They're heading up the hill, Natasha slightly behind them, checking out a stall that sells pagan stones. Sam thinks about trying to bring it up, the wooden dog. It's rare for Bucky to share so easily. He wonders if Bucky's already told Steve about it. He probably has. Natasha catches them up, shows Sam a small packet with a dark red pebble inside. The floor is dappled with the shadows of the leaves. Sam feels warm all over. He glances at Steve beside him. He's laughing at something Bucky said, head tilted upwards. They make their way back to the car and get in. Steve's driving, Bucky beside him, and Natasha camps out in the back, putting her feet up on Sam's thighs. She grins tiredly at him. 

 

Steve jolts the car to a stop suddenly and Bucky's shells fly onto the floor.

'He came out of nowhere!' Steve shouts.

'Bucky stay very still do not step on those shells!'

'You're weird about your car,' Natasha says.

'My Grandma gave it to me.'

'Hey wise guy!' Steve yells out of the window. Natasha starts laughing. Bucky punches through his window.

'Oh my God,' Sam says, putting his head in his hands.

'Hey fat-head! You made me drop my shells!'

'Okay stop!' Sam shouts, 'just…put some music on, and chill out, and sit still.' It's quiet for a moment before Steve speaks.

'Sorry Sam,' he says, then fiddles with the iPod and Marvin Gaye comes on. Sam leans back in his seat and smiles.

 

When they park, Natasha kisses them all goodbye and heads off down the street. Sam glances at Steve who shrugs. Sam locks up and heads for the house. They go round the back, through the garden. Bucky sits on the lawn and lines up his shells in the grass. 

'Thanks for this Sam. It was a really good day,' Steve says beside him. Bucky turns and gives Sam a thumbs up. Sam turns, cheeks hurting from his smile, and goes to make them a cup of tea.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh Sam, you poetic and noble land mermaid.


End file.
